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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29517210">Wall Party</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LokisGirl/pseuds/LokisGirl'>LokisGirl</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Avengers (Marvel Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Blood and Violence, Dubious Consent, F/M, Light Bondage, Vaginal Sex</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 03:28:19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>7,114</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29517210</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LokisGirl/pseuds/LokisGirl</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky is kidnapped by human traffickers and the team infiltrates a horrifying excuse for a party to get him back. Natasha knows more about the Winter Soldier than she lets on. Will their past help her to save him?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>James "Bucky" Barnes/Natasha Romanov</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Wall Party</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This thing is pretty gory, and both Steve and Bruce find themselves in uncomfortable sexual situations (not for very long and for a good cause.)</p><p>I apologize deeply to anyone who speaks Russian. I didn't even try, just used google translate.</p><p>(Also this is my first time writing Avengers. Any concrit would be received with gratitude!)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Жлaние.”</p><p>The man holding the small red book with the black star on the front almost felt bad when he saw the look of horror cross Bucky’s face as the first command word crossed his lips.  </p><p>“Ржавьій.”</p><p>Bucky staggered, putting his hands over his ears. The stranger smiled, lifting a megaphone to his lips.</p><p>“Семадцать.”</p><p>Bucky started to scream. “No, no! Steve! STEVE! No!”</p><p>He couldn’t drown out the megaphone steadily droning out the Winter Soldier’s command words. His command words. By the time he heard the Russian for Homecoming the panic was so deep he could manage only the shallowest of breaths, shaking as he tried to crawl away from his tormentor.</p><p>The stranger finished the list with a little smirk on his face. Bucky was completely still, laying curled in a ball on the floor. “Soldier?” he asked in English.</p><p>Bucky rose, drawing himself to his full height. “Ready to comply.”</p><p>The stranger laughed. “Kinky,” he said.</p><p> </p><p>“That’s it, Cap. There’s nothing else to go on. Security cams in the area caught about 5 seconds of a man following Bucky into a parking garage. We’ve got JARVIS running facial recognition right now.”</p><p>“It doesn’t make any sense. It’s Bucky! Even if a single attacker had a gun on him, he’s trained to take them down. Why would he just disappear with them?”</p><p>“Unfortunately, Captain Rogers, I’m afraid I might have an answer,” JARVIS cut in smoothly. “The man following Mr. Barnes was identified as Viktor Nurmagomedov. He’s a petty weapons dealer with dubious connections to Hydra.”</p><p>“Hydra has Bucky?” Steve shouted. He bolted out of his chair towards the door.</p><p>“No, Captain Rogers. It’s highly unlikely that Hydra has him. Nurmagomedov has tenuous connections to low-level Hydra operatives. They have no use for him as he’s primarily a sex trafficker. He hires goons from Hydra as security at his events and for moving his victims. I speculate that one of them might have tried to make their own deal with him for the red book.”</p><p>“What would a sex trafficker want with Bucky?”</p><p>Tony spoke up from the conference table. “When he’s the Winter Soldier, he’s unquestionably loyal to whoever’s giving the orders and he won’t abuse the product. I hate to say it, but a girl’s worth more money to the seller if she hasn’t been… used before getting to the buyer.” He tried to find a tactful way to put it but it all sounded gross.</p><p>“This is all beside the point,” Natasha cut in. “The important thing is to find Nurmagomedov and make him tell us where Bucky is.”</p><p>“I’ve tracked his cell phone to a tower in Lower Manhattan. The address has been sent to your devices. I suggest you hurry,” JARVIS said.</p><p>When they arrived, there was no sign of Bucky or Nurmagomedov. Tony looked distinctly guilty but stepped up. “I might be able to use my old contacts to find him,” he admitted.</p><p>“You sold weapons to human traffickers?” Steve shot him a look of sheer contempt.</p><p>“No, I sold weapons to people who wanted guns,” Tony said. “I didn’t really care what they wanted them for in those days. I can probably get a bead on Bucky’s whereabouts with a couple of phone calls. Let me reach out.”</p><p>Leaving the rest of the Avengers standing around the abandoned building, Tony went off to make his calls.</p><p>“Whatever it takes. You know that, right Steve? I’ll do whatever it takes to help you get our Bucky back.” Natasha put a hand on Steve’s shoulder.</p><p>He nodded. “I know. He’s your James and my Bucky. He’s ours and we’re gonna find him.”</p><p>“Whatever it takes,” Natasha repeated as if she knew something the others didn’t. “Anything.”</p><p>Clint raised an eyebrow at Sam. The birds exchanged a meaningful glance: we’re going to get into it this time.</p><p>Tony returned, his hands stuffed deep in his pockets, head down. “You’re not going to like this. Nurmagomedov is throwing a party tonight. A very specific kind of party. Odds are extremely good tall, dark and brainwashed will be there.”</p><p>“Okay. That’s good news. What kind of party is it?” Steve asked.</p><p>“It’s what’s called a wall party,” Tony began slowly.</p><p>“And is this a high security event we can’t get into without months of planning?” Steve immediately thought tactically.</p><p>“No,” Natasha filled in. “It’s a party you can’t get into unless you bring a party favor or two.”</p><p>“Party favor?” Clint repeated. “You don’t mean-”</p><p>“I do. If it’s a traditional wall party, then the ratio is two guests for every favor.  Which means that two of us will have to go as favors.”</p><p>“Aw, man. Not again.”</p><p>Sam cut in. “What language are you two speaking? What kind of party favor are we talking about? Do we have to figure where to get a kilo of cocaine?”</p><p>Tony shook his head. “Nope. A wall party is an opportunity for human traffickers to show off their best wares to a high paying audience. And to let them try out the product.”</p><p>“It’s a sex party?”</p><p>“In short, yes. In long, how it works is like this: when you attend a wall party as a guest, you bring someone else, hopefully a willing someone but sadly not usually, to be a party favor. Upon arriving, that person is stripped naked and shackled to the wall for anyone to use. In general, party favors are women, but not always. There are five of us, which means two of us will have to go as favors. In my thinking that’s got to be-”</p><p>Natasha cut him off. “Obviously me. And Bruce because the Hulk isn’t going to have issues getting unchained.”</p><p>“What? Me? I don’t think that’s such a great idea. I might, I mean the other guy might destroy… Manhattan. Besides, Tony said it was meant for traffickers to display their best wares. That’s got to be Steve. No offense, Tony!” Bruce waffled at Tony’s exaggerated expression of disappointment.</p><p>“She does have a point there, Jolly Green. If you can keep your temper until we get our hands on Bucky, you’ll give us the best shot at getting out alive,” Tony argued reasonably.</p><p>“But what are we going to do if someone, you know, wants Bruce or Nat while we’re looking for Bucky?” Sam asked.</p><p>“Hopefully we’ll be in and out before that happens,” Steve said. “We’ll just have to work fast.”</p><p>Not knowing how the op was going to go but with enough intel to show there were exits on all sides of the building they each took a separate SUV and parked on a different side of the building. Sam parked his at a rendezvous point a couple of blocks away as back up. They congregated around the corner to run through the plan one last time. Clint was playing the role of the trafficker, Steve, Sam and Tony were his guests, and Natasha and Bruce were the party favours. Natasha wore towering heels and a wrap dress that showed an indecent amount of cleavage. Bruce shifted from nervous foot to nervous foot in dress pants and a too-tight t-shirt. Natasha looked like sex on wheels. Bruce just looked scared.</p><p>Tony gave Clint a run down about the man he would pretend to be, a low level pimp from Las Vegas trying to break into the high end owners’ scene. “The thing that all of you need to keep in mind, and especially you, Steve, is that we’re going into a really bad corner of the world. You’re going to see a lot of things you don’t even want to imagine. There will be at least ten or fifteen party favours in there tonight and every single one of them will get raped in front of your eyes. You have to remember that we’re not here to save them- we’re here to get Bucky and get out. That is the hard choice we have to make tonight. We can’t save them all. If you end up talking to any of the other guests keep in mind that they think this is normal and okay. They think you think this is normal and okay. Go along with it or we’re all in a world of trouble. Understood?”</p><p>Steve made a choked noise like his head was going to explode.  </p><p>“Understood?” Tony repeated.</p><p>Natasha shot a warning look at Steve that said if he screwed up her chance to save Bucky, Steve wouldn’t walk out of the situation with all his bits in the right place.</p><p>“Understood,” he grumbled. “How many guns do we have? I’m carrying three.”</p><p>Sam unbuttoned his suit jacket to show the two 9mms holstered under his arms. “With the blazer buttoned, you can’t even tell.”</p><p> Clint had a revolver so big it looked like a small cannon strapped to his hip. It was the gaudiest gun he could get his hands on. “Vegas pimp style in full effect,” he said. “Plus my undercover quiver and bow for emergencies.”</p><p>Steve looked at Tony who held up his wrist showing off what looked like a metal watch with a hot rod red metal band. “I’m Iron Man. Isn’t that enough?”</p><p>“Guess that’s that, then. Tony, you get first recon shift. Steve’s with me. Clint, you and Sam look after Bruce, okay?”</p><p>Clint looked like he was going to disagree with Natasha’s assignments.</p><p> “Look, Bruce needs more help than I do. I’m- not unused to this sort of thing,” Natasha said slowly.</p><p>“Fair enough. I think we ought to try and set you two up close to each other for safety though,” Clint said.</p><p>“We’re going to need eyes on as much of this party as possible if we’re going to find Bucky. I say we split up as much as we can, cover more ground,” Steve said.</p><p>“Grandpa Freedom has a point,” Tony agreed. “Plus you might need to do some things you don’t want Steve to see,” he whispered in Clint’s good ear. Clint stole a glance at Bruce and nodded quickly.</p><p>Once inside, Tony paid the entrance fee for the guests and Clint filled out some forms with cursory information about Nat and Bruce, which did not include their names but did list asking price. The lights were low in the centre of the room, which featured a bar in the middle and some arbitrary dancing room that wasn’t getting much use. Along the walls were areas lit by focused spotlights. In each pool of light, a nude person was locked to the wall by their wrists and ankles; mostly young women with a sprinkling of very young men barely out of their teens. None of them looked happy to be there. Two or three were being touched by men from the crowd but the night was young. Mostly the men were circling the room, inspecting all the options.</p><p>On the far side of the room facing the entrance, there was a free spotlight. Natasha grabbed Steve’s arm and navigated him in that direction. “Come on, let’s get this over with,” she said through clenched teeth.</p><p>Reaching the light, she turned to Steve. “Ready?” He made a face. Natasha pulled a bow at her waist and unfolded the dress from around her body. Lifting it off her shoulders, she handed it to Steve. “Fold this and put it on the chair.”</p><p>He didn’t answer, too dismayed by her sudden nudity to pay attention. “Rogers! Take my dress and get me tied up here before someone notices you haven’t got a clue!” she ordered.</p><p>Steve mechanically took the dress and did as she asked, noticing that the chair held a small collection of various condoms and lubes.</p><p>He turned back to see her leaning against the wall, one hand already in a manacle. “Well, I can’t do the other one alone,” she prompted. He dutifully raised her arm and clicked the other restraint in place.</p><p>“Now what?” he asked.</p><p>“Now we wait for Tony to find where they’re keeping Bucky, kick their asses and get the hell out of here.”</p><p>“And what do I do about the interested party coming straight over here? I think they’re coming for you,” Steve sounded close to panic.</p><p>“Rogers! Get your head in the mission!” Natasha hissed. “We are going to do what we have to do. Now.  Put your damn hands on me like you want it!”</p><p>Steve reluctantly placed a hand gently on one of her breasts. She rolled her eyes at him. “This is not the time or place to be shy or romantic, Steve. I suggest you get a bit more aggressive.”</p><p>He dropped a hand to her waist and leaned his head down until his mouth was beside her ear. “Tasha, tell me what to do. I’m way out of my depth here. Help me help us,” he whispered, barely audible over bad club music.</p><p>She turned her head to bite at Steve’s lips, a jarring and violent kiss he wasn’t expecting. “Here’s what you’re going to do. Either bite my neck or my nipple but make sure your head is out of the way so I can see where Tony is. While you’re doing that, you can either apply some of that lube or finger me because one way or the other, you’re probably going to end up fucking me.”</p><p>Steve froze again. Damn it all, Natasha thought. “Steve, look around. It’s gonna be you or one of these scumbags. Don’t make the wrong choice here,” she cajoled.</p><p>He gave himself a shake, peered around the room, and placed a tentative hand between her legs. She spread for him, rubbing her slit along his fingers. “Nat, I-”</p><p>“Steve, for the love of all things good, for just one second can you pretend to like pussy? You don’t have to enjoy it, just go through the motions. Prep me like you’re getting James’ ass ready to take your cock, will you? We’re putting on a show here.” She ground herself against his hand at an angle that slid one of his fingers inside her. “Do it hard, Rogers. Now!”</p><p>Steve did what he was told. He pumped his finger in and out of her. He put his teeth in her neck, then dragged his hot mouth over her collarbone, licking across her chest to capture a nipple between his lips.  He sucked, she moaned. He felt his hand get a bit wet. Must be doing something right. His body started to respond to her. He shifted his weight, pinning one of her legs between his so he could grind on it. The important thing was the friction, that would give him the results he needed.</p><p>And what he needed right now was wood. He was still horrified to know this place existed, it was high on his list of the least sexy environments he’d ever encountered. Despite Tony’s firm warning, Steve fully intended to burn this place down on the way out. After they got Bucky back, he planned on leaving most of the patrons in puddles of their own blood.</p><p>His own blood started moving south, thank goodness. He progressed to half hard, and as long as he pretended they were anywhere but here it was almost okay. Nat wasn’t getting much wetter. Steve was sure all he was doing was irritating her. “Nat, no matter what, I’m not going to hurt you. How do I make this tolerable for you?”</p><p> </p><p>In a spot close to one of the room’s corners and thus slightly out of the way, an unhappy Bruce stripped down while Clint tried to look casual. Sam was openly gawking at the rest of the party goers. “Close your mouth, man. We need to look like we belong here, remember?”</p><p>Sam snapped his jaw shut. He straightened up and purposefully shook out his shoulders. “I am the leader of the free world, I am the leader of the free world,” he said to himself, a little confidence boosting mantra. Glancing at Bruce, he asked an important question. “Exactly what can we do to you without the big guy getting mad?”</p><p>Bruce was standing there, his chest practically caved in he was trying so hard to disappear, his hands covering his crotch. “I don’t know. This isn’t a situation I ever considered before. I’m not, I mean normally, I don’t...” he trailed off.</p><p>Clint took over the problem. “Let’s walk through it. First, we have to tie you up, and then we’ll go from there. It’s possible that no one will even notice us over here.”</p><p>Bruce allowed them to attach his wrists to the wall. His obvious discomfort at being on display was very clear. “Well, this is awful,” he commented.</p><p>Sam did a more careful scan of the room. There was no sign of Tony. He could see Natasha watching him back, Steve blocking the view of her body. He noticed a few other male party favours and the particular state of their anatomy. “I think it’s gonna get worse for you, pal. All the other dudes locked to the wall are-”</p><p>Bruce’s eyes got wide. “How is it even possible for them to get it up like this?”</p><p>“It’s a combination of Viagra, Ecstasy, and the occasional tug,” Clint explained mechanically. “Works like a charm.”</p><p>“How do you even know that?” Sam wondered aloud. “Undercover with the Black Widow. Never mind.”</p><p>Most of the party goers weren’t even coming close to their corner, Bruce saw with relief. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye. A large bald man dressed all in black leather was pointing him out to his companion. “Guys, we’ve got company! Do something!”</p><p>“Like what?” Sam exclaimed. “It’s not like there are a lot of-” he didn’t bother to finish the sentence as Clint dropped to his knees in front of Bruce, took a deep breath and swallowed Banner’s cock like it was candy.</p><p>“What the- oh, oh...” Bruce was reduced to punched out little moaning sounds. Clint certainly knew how to manipulate a man’s body. Bruce flushed a deep shade of red from his hairline all the way down his chest as a combination of humiliation and arousal swept through him.</p><p>From her perch, Natasha nodded over Steve’s shoulder. “Good job, Clint,” she murmured.  “Steve, if it makes you feel any better, you’re not alone. Clint is sucking Bruce’s cock right now.”</p><p>“Wonderful. We can go to therapy together later.” Steve was getting frustrated. He followed her instructions, and still she didn’t respond in any useful way. He didn’t want to think about what would happen to the team if he hurt her during this repulsive op. He adjusted his hand, trying to get more depth inside her. Was a woman’s g-spot like the prostate? Hit it once and everything would come together? His thumb brushed her clit and- oh! There. That’s what would work. Nat met his eyes and nodded. Yes.</p><p>He kept on, rolling his thumb in circles that put Natasha’s eyes to the back of her head for an instant.</p><p>“Steve, you’re being far too gentle. You need to behave like you don’t even believe I’m human. Get yourself a handful of lube. Stick your dick between my thighs and let’s get it up, okay?”</p><p>It was the least appealing set of orders Steve had ever heard. Dropping the zipper on his pants just enough to fish himself out, he squirted lube from the bottle on the chair into his palm and proceeded to wrap his hand around his cock, trying to come up with some way to frame this as a turn on.</p><p>Nat squeezed her thighs together and Steve slipped his manhood between them. The friction was certainly good, so that was a bare minimum. He couldn’t shake the feeling he was doing something horribly wrong, even if he was only doing what Natasha told him. That was consent, right? He was yanked out of his thoughts by a firm hand in his hair, pulling his head back. A demanding kiss on his lips startled him and he let go of Nat and turned to fight. All that did was place his dick directly in the waiting hand of his assailant.</p><p>Not an assailant. Tony. Tony, who was stroking him vigorously while treating him to a wonderfully wet kiss. Tony moved from his mouth to his neck so Steve could hear his words. “Doesn’t matter how good looking the woman is, does it? Just not your slice of pie. Well, bear with it a few minutes more, okay. They’ve got Barnes guarding a room upstairs. He’s not himself, that’s for sure. He looked right through me like we never met.”</p><p>“Tony, oh,” Steve gasped at a particularly well-timed twist of Iron Man’s palm on his arousal. “Trade me places. Bucky always knows me. I’ll get him to snap out of it and we can go before this gets any worse.”</p><p>Tony gave him directions about where to find Bucky, and Steve disappeared. “Are Bruce and the birdbrains okay?” Tony asked Nat, picking up the lube and a condom. He brushed his lips along her neck so she could speak into his ear without anyone else catching their conversation.</p><p>“Bruce is- shocked might be the correct word. Clint is in his element, and Sam is trying hard not to look.”</p><p>“Good.” Tony tweaked one of her nipples between his fingers. Shoving a thigh against her core, he caught the tip of her other breast with his tongue. “This is about get personal. Grind a bit, show me where your rhythm is.”</p><p>She rotated her hips a few times, finding the right spot before beginning to ride his leg. “Get your head back up here,” she cried.</p><p>Tony casually moved back to tormenting her neck so she could talk to him. “We need to be very cautious here, Tony. We might rescue Bucky but lose Steve. How can he be Cap if he slaughters a building full of people? His mind can’t take it.”</p><p>“What are you saying?”</p><p>“Get him out of here and leave Bucky to me before Steve discovers his vengeful side.” Nat slid one of her legs up over Tony’s hip, pulling him in.</p><p>Tony fumbled a hand to his belt, unbuckling it and dropping his pants down around his thighs. His cock pressed heavy and hard against Nat’s seam; she bucked against him in appreciation. Tony tore open the condom packet and dexterously applied it one handed. He slid into her heat, dropping his head onto her shoulder.</p><p>“I know the Soldier. If he’s freshly activated, he barely knows anything. He’s so deeply controlled he doesn’t recognize most people. He probably won’t know Steve because he’s not Bucky.” Nat somehow managed to moan out the entire sentence. “But he’ll know me. The Soldier trained the black widows. He trained me.”</p><p>Tony lifted Nat entirely off the ground, pounding into her like he was using her as battering ram to break the wall. She arched her back to meet his thrusts, breasts squished against the soft cotton of his dress shirt. “We’ll know soon enough. If Bucky doesn’t recognize Steve, the fight will start any minute.”</p><p>“In that case, use your fingers on my clit so I can come before the battle, please and thanks.”</p><p>Ever the gentleman, Tony immediately went to work rubbing her clit with style and expertise. He slowed his thrusts to a pace matching his fingers, intuiting from the minute clenching of her walls around him that she wasn’t far off.</p><p>“Are you telling me that two minutes from a fire fight with the Winter Soldier and a bunch of mercenaries, you can have an orgasm? Aren’t you the least bit distracted by all-” Tony didn’t bother to finish the sentence as Natasha’ body thrashed between him and the wall, her legs tight around his waist. She came in visible waves, every muscle contracting and releasing as her peak shook every part of her. “And I thought I was good at compartmentalizing.”</p><p>A huge crash rained down bits of wood and plaster as Steve came flying through a hole in the wall from what must have been the second storey. He landed on his back in the middle of the floor. Sam ran towards him as Tony and Clint scrambled to release their friends from the shackles. Party goers fled to the far corners of the room. Some of them drew their own weapons.</p><p>“Cap! Are you hurt?” Sam yelled. He dropped to his knees beside Steve as Steve rolled to his side, unable to stand. The Winter Soldier appeared in the hole, a pair of machine pistols in his hands. It was obvious to anyone who knew Bucky that he was not in the mental driver’s seat.</p><p>“Джеймс не убивай его. James, don’t kill him!” Nat called out, using the most authoritative voice she could muster while buck naked and locked up. Her voice drew his attention and he nimbly jumped down, causing another scattering of patrons. He roughly shoved Tony out of the way and stood before Nat, his ramrod straight posture the antithesis of Bucky’s normal relaxed slouch.</p><p>Tony bee lined for Sam and Steve, hitting the button on his watch that activated his Iron Man suit. It began to enfold him as he ran.</p><p>Natasha met his eyes, her chin up. She spoke to the Winter Soldier in Russian. “You’ll regret killing that one later. Leave him and his friends to me. Kill the rest quickly.”</p><p>He nodded, reaching out with his metal hand to tear the shackle holding her wrist out of the wall. It left her with a handcuff trailing about a foot of fairly heavy chain. She gave him a little smile and he finished freeing her. The Winter Soldier kissed her before they turned as one to the room. He passed her one of the guns and they started clearing the place.</p><p>A tremendous roar filled the room before the second body hit the floor. The Hulk had arrived. “Bruce, buddy, start freeing the party favours, will ya?” Clint asked, popping his bow to its full size. Noting that most of the traffickers were running for the front door, he nocked and fired an explosive arrow. It hit the floor directly in front of the exit, starting a blazing fire. Turning and running back the other way put the patrons in line to be picked up and smashed against the architecture by the Hulk or shot by Natasha and the Winter Soldier.</p><p>Sam ran around gathering up the trafficking victims, reassuring them. He worked quickly to pull coats and shirts off whoever he could find on the floor for favours who didn’t have any clothing. Directing the victims to stay behind Clint, they worked efficiently to keep civilians out of the line of fire.</p><p>Tony immediately understood what Natasha had instructed Bucky to do, and if that was the plan, he guessed he was in. He started blasting at party goers too. At least he was using his suit’s crowd control measures instead of lethal force- taser means you live, bullets mean you die.</p><p>He flew to Steve and picked him up gently.</p><p>“Get him out of here!” Sam called.</p><p>Blood was pumping from a gash in Cap’s uniform, his flesh torn and ragged. The Winter Soldier must have torn him nearly in half for Steve’s enhanced healing to work this slow. He was unconscious. “JARVIS- vitals check on Rogers.”</p><p>“Captain Rogers appears to have suffered massive internal hemorrhaging and has a probable bleed on the brain.”</p><p>“Is the serum working?”</p><p>“Yes sir. He must have suffered an incredible amount of damage.”</p><p>“You mean like someone shot him and then tried to tear his guts out with a metal hand?”</p><p>“That does unfortunately seem likely, sir.”</p><p>“We’d better get him back to the Tower’s med bay right away.”</p><p>“Sir, if you leave with Captain Rogers right now, I’m afraid that Ms. Romanoff and the Winter Soldier are going to do something even more regrettable than what’s presently happening.”</p><p>“J, it’s already regrettable. They’re big kids, let them clean up after themselves. Are there security cameras in this area?”</p><p>“There are two located in businesses across the street. I took the liberty of disabling them before you arrived. It seemed prudent.”</p><p>“Good thinking.” Tony engaged his comms. “Falcon, gather up the party favours. Anyone who wants to stay at the Tower is guaranteed safety and a job when they’re ready. A lot of them were probably brought here from other countries. JARVIS is sending a bus to pick everyone up. If they don’t speak English, get Clint to explain it to them. He speaks enough languages to get the job done.”</p><p>Cradling Steve, Tony flew over the fire at the door and into the night as fast as he could go.</p><p>Common criminals, even hardened traffickers and torturers, do not have the skills to put up much of a fight against enhanced assassins. Black Widow and the Winter Soldier made short work of the bad guys, performing a deadly ballet of bullets and martial arts.</p><p>A thug grabbed Natasha from behind, only to find himself flipped onto his back as her strong legs twisted around his neck, snapping it as he fell to the floor. Another ran at her with a knife. She whipped out her arm, flicking the leftover length of chain from the shackle at his blade, yanking it out of his hard. Catching the knife’s handle in her palm she rolled forward and gutted him like a fish, spraying herself with his hot blood. She wiped spatter off her face and moved on to the next attacker.</p><p>Eventually they ran out of bad guys to kill and the Hulk had destroyed most of the building. Clint and Sam had rushed the trafficking victims onto the freshly arrived bus and away from the scene.</p><p>Bruce shrank back down to himself in the tense silence following the battle. “Nat, this is-”</p><p>“Not your problem, Bruce,” Natasha stopped him. “I’ll finish this myself. Go home.”</p><p>“I can’t leave you alone with him,” he gestured to the Winter Soldier, trying to find his pants without taking his eyes off the killer. “Not after what he did to Steve.”</p><p>“Ah, but he knows me. Don’t you, любовь?” Natasha turned to the Soldier and he ran a metal finger through the blood running down her cleavage.</p><p>“Yes, Natasha.” He stepped closer to her.</p><p>Bruce wore an expression of mixed horror and resignation.  Grabbing his pants he mumbled “Um, yeah. I’m going to go now. Bring back Bucky if you can.”</p><p>He beat a hasty retreat.</p><p>He wasn’t out the door before James fell on Natasha, the single-minded focus of the Soldier trained on Natasha’s body. </p><p> </p><p>Hydra had never bothered to wipe the Red Room out of his memory- the Soviet agents he’d trained there were allies and it was useful for him to know who they were. None of the Hydra scientists ever thought of the Soldier as anything more than a machine. They didn’t speak to him except to issue commands, and no one thought to wonder what would happen if anyone treated their asset like a person. Since the Black Widows were trained not to see themselves as human, no one thought to wonder what would happen if the Soldier was left alone with a Widow. </p><p>What happened was human connection mediated the only way either of them knew. The Soldier’s feelings were regularly wiped out of existence and the Widow’s had been pruned to nothing since she was a child. Their mutual handlers were convinced everything except aggression and obedience had been eliminated. </p><p>How wrong they were. </p><p>In the Red Room, if you lost a fight during training, your opponent killed you. Natasha knew her training would involve fighting the Winter Soldier at some point. She didn’t know if he would kill her if she lost. She was encouraged to use all the weapons at her disposal in every encounter. Natasha’s training ingrained using sex as a weapon against men. The Soldier was a man.</p><p>She tried flirting with him. No response. The soldier did not understand flirtation. She tried revealing clothing. He told her she was irresponsible to leave so much of her skin vulnerable to attack. </p><p>Natasha ran out of ideas. Except one. The next time they were left alone to spar in the small martial arts gym, she let him take her feet out from under her, wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders and kissed him gently on the mouth as they hit the mat. </p><p>He stiffened in her embrace, looking disoriented. The thousand yard stare that was the Soldier’s perpetual expression was gone. </p><p>On impulse, Natasha spoke to him in English. “Soldier, do you have a name?”</p><p>He blinked. “James is my name.”</p><p>“Do you know who I am?” </p><p>“You’re Natasha. A… friend, I think.” </p><p>“For now,” she said. She kissed him again and he responded in kind. Talking seemed to bring James pain, so Natasha opted to keep him pliant with her hands and body. </p><p>He would leave the Red Room for assignments and come back cold and absent. She would kiss him and call him James and he would come back, little by little. Natasha was relatively secure in her certainty he wouldn’t destroy her in training. </p><p>Sometimes when he arrived, there would be no James in him at all. Those times were dangerous. The Soldier would either not respond to her advances at all, or his responses to her body would be so entwined with his conditioning that what happened between them was war. He liked her bloody, and if it was someone else’s blood, so much the better. </p><p>They were sent to infiltrate a SHIELD base hidden in the mountains of Lithuania. There were seven well trained agents inside. Natasha and the Soldier surveilled the installation for a day before he sent her in alone. Natasha double checked her weapons- a single handgun, a stiletto knife, and a garrote.<br/>
She set her chin, straightened her shoulders and slipped into the cement building through a small window. </p><p>Not two minutes had passed before the Soldier heard gun shots. Rifle in hand, he kicked in the front door. There was no more need for stealth. </p><p>Judging by the pools of blood staining the hallway, Natasha had opted for the knife. He passed what had once been a tall man with light brown hair, his head sitting in his own lap. A woman wearing a uniform from the Voyenno-Мorskoi Flot gurgled where she sat at a desk, attempting to hold her intestines inside her body and failing. The Soldier calculated her life expectancy somewhere around the minute mark and didn’t bother to put her out of her misery. So much blood, he thought. Natasha was very good, if messy. </p><p>The room with the small window was the most disturbed. Evidently it was occupied when Natasha arrived. By the looks of the broken furniture, one of the dead men inside had attacked Natasha with a chair. He was impaled on a broken off leg. His companion was nearly decapitated, Natasha’ garotte twisted and stuck in the bones of his spine. The Soldier used his metal hand to crunch the offending vertebrae and retrieve her weapon. </p><p>And so it went. Natasha had dispatched the entire unit quietly. The Soldier found her in the compound’s main room, going through a filing cabinet. She’d had some trouble with the locks on the cabinets and decided to shoot them off- there was no one left to alert so the sound of the gun shots didn’t matter. </p><p>She was drenched in blood, her tactical suit stuck like a second skin. Blood dripped from her hair and gloves onto the paperwork they were meant to retrieve. </p><p>The Soldier took the papers from her hands and put them on top of the cabinet. He pulled her away from the cabinet, stripping her of the sticky suit. “такая красивая кровавая” he growled. “So beautiful, covered in the blood of the enemy.” </p><p>Natasha immediately recognized the change in him. “James,” she breathed. He licked the blood off her face and body. She thrashed against him, tearing at the buckles holding his clothing together. They were a wolf pack of two, celebrating the success of their hunt. </p><p>Neither of them included that detail in their mission reports, and since they were barely human, no one ever thought to ask. They were often assigned together, and if the scenes they left behind were more brutal than necessary, the decision makers didn’t care. The Winter Soldier and the Widow got the job done. </p><p>Natasha was sent on her own, doing the kind of work that didn’t require the Soldier’s killing efficiency. Cooperation between evil empires being what it is, eventually Natasha was given undercover work in the highest levels of Hydra. She rose quickly through the ranks until she attained the position of assistant to the lead scientific advisor on the defunct Winter Soldier program. He was an overconfident blowhard who fell for all Natasha’s tricks. She showed him a little leg and he told her everything about the Soldier, that the asset once known as James Buchanan Barnes was considered a failure. He needed to be wiped too often, and was difficult to control at the best of times. Sometimes he even failed to respond to the one set of commands that should have been the easiest to follow- the words that ought to signal his brain to stop being the Winter Soldier and becomes James again. The logic was that James was not a super soldier, he was simply a terrified man and thus easier to control with threats. </p><p>Natasha realized that Hydra knew nothing of James Barnes. They didn’t know what they’d created. He may have been a man, but he relished blood and death. He was not terrified. He was death. James was her match. The idiot advisor even told Natasha the series of words she needed to step down the Soldier. It was all so easy. </p><p>She did an experiment on their next assignment. After they’d been briefed and escorted to a farm house near Marseilles that would be the staging area for their action, she waited for their handlers to leave. Ten minutes after they were alone, she called to the Soldier. </p><p>“учебник” Natasha said to him quietly. He didn’t answer her.<br/>
“стол” He sat down hard on a step in the front hallway. She held her breath for a moment before continuing.<br/>
“летом”<br/>
He hung his head. Natasha approached him cautiously, putting a hand on his shoulder. “James? Are you all right?”</p><p>The Soldier who was no longer the Soldier began to cry. </p><p>“Do you know who I am?” She asked him, not moving. </p><p>He looked up at her, brown eyes liquid. “You’re Natasha. Are you here to take me back?”</p><p>“Take you back?”</p><p>“Yeah. When I know you, when you call me James, the next thing is the pain and the lightning and the cold. I don’t want to be cold again, Natasha.”</p><p>“We have a job to do, James. We’re not going anywhere until it’s over.” </p><p>Their target didn’t turn up for nearly three weeks. James taught Natasha dances he remembered from his youth. Natasha was sensitive enough not to point out that the steps were from another era and James was at least sixty years behind the times. They took turns cooking.</p><p>Natasha discovered she could laugh. She’d never had much reason to do it before. The Red Room did not encourage happiness. It lead to sloppy work. Watching the Soldier become the real James instead of the bloodsoaked killer of her waking fantasies connected Natasha to a humanity she didn’t know she had. Slivers of doubt began to seep in. Was she on the right side of world events? Someday soon, their target would ar-rive, they’d do the job, and then James would be rounded up and then… she was nothing if not brutal with herself. If she allowed Hydra to collect their asset after the mission, James would be tortured and turned back into the thing they called the Winter Soldier. </p><p>For the first time, she made a different call. </p><p>She packed James’ bag, giving him all the emergency money they had and most of the supplies. “Go, James. You need to run. They’ll come after you. I’ll stay here, do the job and cover for you as long as I can. They’ll assume you malfunctioned. Hide for as long as you can.”</p><p>James didn’t want to leave her. She was the only living person in the world, so far as he could tell, that knew who he was. She was his only connection to the world. </p><p>“I’ll find you when I can get away clean. We can’t go together- we’ll have all of Hydra and the KGB after us,” Natasha said, pragmatic to the last. </p><p>“Then you go first, and I’ll come after you,” James offered gallantly.</p><p>“No,” Natasha said, her words law, “I don’t get lightning and pain. I don’t get cold. You need to go.”</p><p>James kissed her and went.</p><p>He lasted six weeks before they caught him. Natasha never asked what happened to him. A year after that Clint spared her life and she didn’t hear the words Winter Soldier again for years. </p><p> </p><p>Surrounded by bodies and blood in the remains of a sex trafficking party, Natasha finally had her Soldier back. Steve could have his Bucky, but she’d have her James first. The Soldier picked her up easily with one arm and she wrapped her legs around his waist, biting at his neck. He went over backwards when she pushed him down on the ground, happy to take direction. Knowing that someone from the team would come to check on them any minute, she took his clothes off as quickly as possible. </p><p>His mouth and his hands, one hot skin and one cool metal, were all over her as they rolled together, scratch-ing and biting, drawing some of their own blood. Natasha wound up on the bottom in a puddle of Rogers’ blood and even as her James, her Soldier, pushed into her she knew it was the last time. </p><p>She pulled him close and whispered in his ear. “You’re as close to love as I will ever get, James. Учебник.<br/>
Стол. Летом.  Textbook. Table. Summer.”</p><p>James collapsed on top of her. </p><p>“Bucky?” Natasha held up his head to look in his eyes, which were wide and wild. “Get off me.”</p>
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